1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of teleconferencing and, more particularly, to an apparatus or endpoint device for permitting conference call participants to simultaneously manage multiple conference calls.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional teleconferencing system that utilizes a conference bridge, a group of people individually call the conference bridge assigned to the specific conference for a particular time slot and add themselves to the initial conference call. During the call, a specific participant can remove themselves from the conference bridge, and new participants are able to join the conference call that is currently in progress. When a new participant wishes to join the conference, the new participant will not be informed about who is currently at the bridge, i.e., the new participant will not be provided with the identity of the participants in the conference call. In addition, the conference call participants will not be provided with automatic updates with respect to who is currently participating in the ongoing conference call, i.e., who has joined or left the conference. The only notification that is currently provided is a nondescript audible alert.
If a participant wants to participate in a second conference call, the participant is required to “drop” from the first call and dial into the second conference call. Alternatively, the participant may switch to a second call via their phone (i.e., utilize the conventional call waiting feature) to access the second conference call, while remaining connected to the original conference. However, through all of the foregoing connection cycles, each call has a well-defined “life cycle”, which involves a number of steps. First, the conference call is scheduled by a specific person, who then distributes the dial-in information to others who wish to participate in the conference call. Second, conference call participants call and add themselves to the conference bridge to participate in the conference call, and then add themselves to the conference call using the dial-in information provided in the distributed dial-in information. Next, the user places the call. Finally, participants in the conference call drop from the call or the allotted time for the call expires. In any event, the end of the conference call does eventually occur. In such a scenario, it is not possible to spontaneously extend the duration of the conference or to split up and create a sidebar conference between a subset of participants without having reserved an additional conference bridge prior to attempting to establish the sidebar conference or without needing to call the bridge operator for assistance with setting up the additional conference calls.
In other conventional systems, a caller is able to conference with several people by using his or her calling device as a local conference bridge. However, the number of participants in such a system is typically limited to no more than approximately six participants, where each participant must be added to the conference one after the other. In addition, the conference call itself is still “anchored” to a single, controlling calling device, i.e., the device being used as the bridge. In either case, the conference bridge paradigm is rigidly constrained to a situation in which people dial into the conference and from which people are “dropped” from the conference.
There are no known products that provide features and the ability to control conference calls that overcome the foregoing limitations of the above-described conventional systems. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus that provides the capability to simultaneously manage multiple conference calls from the endpoint, move participants in the conference calls from one conference call to another and subdivide or join multiple conference calls together.